Beyond Beauty by Robin Trimingham

This week the concept of gender neutrality seems to be on everyone’s mind. Rooted in the notion that people are hardwired into judging one another based on gender rather than on character or brain power, the movement seeks to level the playing field by de-emphasizing the distinction between male and female clothing, hairstyles, names, and pronouns.

By neutralizing their sexuality, these “gender fluid” individuals express themselves as male, female, both male and female, and neither male nor female as the mood strikes them – firmly changing the rules of engagement for anyone who seeks to interact with them.

For someone who suffered through ten brutal years of female hair and clothing completion in my quest for an education, I can certainly appreciate the merits of this concept. I do worry that by taking the removal of gender to its extreme, some of these young crusaders will suffer a form of latent identity crisis in the future, but I am not a doctor and this is just sort of a hunch.

What I will say is that by pushing the boundaries of self-expression in this new direction, these gender-neutral people are causing everyone to rethink how we interact with one another and this can only be a good thing.

Making judgements about a person based on any of their physical characteristics is not just wrong and inappropriate, it is also a waste of time. A beautiful person might be “pretty” to look at but are they therefore of good character and worth knowing? Often not.

The funny thing is that the people who put the most stock in gender and physical characteristics when they are young, are often also the ones most caught off guard by the onset of age discrimination when they are older.

Equally so, those who are the objects of this fleeting and revered beauty often feel compelled to embark on increasingly outlandish diets and body modifications to remain in this dubious limelight, and frequently fall into a reclusive depression when they cease to be adored.

How much easier it will be when we, the people of earth, all evolve to the point where brains and character are the revered human traits, and adoration and discrimination based on age, gender, race, and nationality cease to exist.

It won’t be a simple journey; and as with all journeys to new places, mistakes will be made and false prophets will lead some people astray.

But it is a journey worth making just the same if it leads us beyond a superficial existence to a world of peaceful co-existence and harmony, and shedding antiquated notions of superiority based on gender can only be a step in the right direction.